LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A 12-year-old Arkansas girl who has been recovering from a rare and often-fatal brain infection went swimming for the first time since she got sick.

Kali (KAY’-lee) Hardig went swimming Friday at a pool at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

That marks a milestone because health officials believe Kali became sick after a trip to an Arkansas water park this summer. The brain-eating amoeba that caused Kali’s infection is often found in warm freshwater.

That amoeba, called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER’-ee-uh FOW’-lur-ee), typically enters the body through the nose when people are swimming or diving.

One of Kali’s doctors, Dr. Esther Tompkins, says Kali has been afraid of water because that’s how she got sick.

But Tompkins says Kali got over her initial hesitancy on Friday and even went under water.